Letters from the Cold
by Allthequirkythings
Summary: Sternritter C Aaleigha Waterwell could be the very daughter of Wandrenreich itself. Her personality, however, does not match the sadistic natures of the other Quincy. Meanwhile, Hitsugaya Toshirou finds a small accumulation of letters oddly out-of-place in his daily Jinzen spot. And he isn't one to keep secrets or hide, but he had a feeling that they were left for him. Continued...


_I'm a Quincy._

_There's no need to get so winded up. Put down your sword. I'm unarmed. I'm unsure. And I'm afraid._

_I have a story to share, is all. I'm afraid if I don't breathe it out now, I'll soon suffocate. Now I know, I understand: why should you listen to me? I'm a Quincy. I'm the enemy._

_But what does that even mean? The word 'enemy'?_

_So while you're distracted, let me begin lest you regain your senses and wonder why you're even listening to me, the "enemy", and why I'm telling you all this anyway._

_Because I'm not sure either._

_I just want you to know._

* * *

_The moment I was born...I was born._

_Anti-climactic. I understand._

_There really is no better way to describe my birth besides being something completely average. Even my family history was mediocre. My mother was a troop and my father was a troop. Now I'm a troop. Things like this tend to happen in our culture. The only special quality of our family is that we are Echt: pureblood...though everyone in the Wandreich is Echt, so that really does not make us anything unique._

_My mother dreamed I would be a Sternritter. And I admit, just a few short years ago, I did too. A special cloak, a special letter, a special power to fight...but fight for what? It worries me, because I don't know anymore._

_His Majesty always liked to say we fought to vanquish the injustice and conflict wrought upon the Quincies by generations of shinigami._

_It sounded nice each year at the academy, when His Majesty spoke personally at the assembly. It made sense, like how we students lined up and bowed to his image each morning. It was comforting, like the dark shadows of Wandenreich swallowing our fortress in blackness each day and night._

_I remember being a young child, still believing His Majesty was nothing less than a deity. My parents were loyal to the master. They raised me as his daughter, not their own. I was only one of thousands dedicated to him, however._

_They were murdered senselessly in a rage by our province general. He was promptly decapitated personally by His Majesty, and me, an orphan, was adopted as his daughter. I didn't understand. My parents' deaths, while sad, didn't devastate me. My new family, if it could be called such, was consisted of the Sternritter I once admired._

_Daughter of His Majesty._

_Alright. Stop looking at me like that. You're already judging me so badly. But all I've ever wanted is to talk to you._

_And I haven't even told you my name._

* * *

"You understand?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Aaleigha knelt on one knee in front of him. Her white cape always felt dirty fanning around the ground like this. Hundreds had died in the exact same position she was in now, but strangely, it didn't even make her twitch to see the marks of fingernails dragging across the otherwise spotless tile.

"You will follow commands, Aaleigha," Yhwach demanded. "Bring me his bankai."

"Yes, Your Majesty," she responded dolefully.

He cocked his head at her, and Aaleigha felt his expression on her bowed head: that look of disinterest, of cool calculation.

"Aaleigha, you are my daughter."

She toyed with the thought of saying, 'Yes, Your Majesty.'

He continued in his baritone: "This spirit is one of great magnitude. I believe your abilities will be able to overcome his, however."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Yhwach paused, before saying, "Your parents were murdered in conflict. I fostered you to the greatest extent of your abilities. I hope you have been...happy."

Hah. _Happy_. He meant, "I hope you have been idly brain-washed by loyalty so you may serve me well. And then I'll kill you anyway."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"I believe you are strong, Aaleigha," Yhwach decided. "You're diversity has made you strong. And I rename you Aaleigha Waterwell, Sternritter C..."

She bowed her head so he wouldn't see her tears.

"...'The Cold.'"

She let her veil fall across her face, itching her neck.

"Thank you...Your Majesty."

* * *

_What changed, I don't know._

_I can trace a line from my parents' death to now and find nothing out-of-the-ordinary._

_I found friends within the Sternritter- if Bambietta and the girls could be called friends. In truth, I blossomed in constant terror of them trampling me underfoot...even after blooming, I was afraid they would cut me down anyway out of jealousy or plain boredom._

_I found a new home. My appearance was trimmed to the upmost severity. Shiny black hair wound into a flower pinned to the side of my head. A black crystal crown on top of my head. A gossamer veil that swept my collarbones. Sharp ebony eyes. Pale skin from the secrecy and shadows of Wandenreich._

_Liltotto and the others teased me often, saying how at first glance I could pass as His Majesty's direct daughter without question._

_I try to look in the mirror and see a slim chin, straight hair, a beautiful smile._

_If I don't look for him, I don't see him._

_Once upon a time, I wanted to be like him. When I stopped wanting that, I can't remember._

_I think...it must have been...the boy..._

* * *

As princess of Wandenreich, Aaleigha had free-roam to most of the facilities.

She spent most of her time away from her own life and in the research center, sometimes observing the shinigami in the "gray space" between Soul Society and Wandenreich.

The data read that he was a captain- Tenth Division, short, light, moody. For some reason, that made her smile.

Not many things made her smile.

Aaleigha didn't partake in the sadistic pleasures of her various "girl friends," nor the "purge" in Arrancar-hunting in Hueco Mundo.

The boy didn't smile much either.

The captain would sit in the same place each day, place his sword on his lap, close his eyes, and just sit there.

It didn't make any sense.

When she finally asked what he was doing, a researcher explained what "Jinzen" was, and how that was seemingly crucial to the relationship between shinigami and zanpakutou. Those swords had souls, the man had explained, to which Aaleigha incredulously wondered and dreamt about very often.

Souls bound together?

An unbreakable relationship?

_I want that_.

So that's when Aaleigha Waterwell, Sternritter C, "The Cold," developed a strange infatuation towards shinigami.

Here in Wandenreich she was alone. Shinigami were lucky- they were never alone. They had zanpakutous and Divisions and officers. Quincies thrived by themselves; what was the point in working and being together all the time if in battle it was only one against one anyway?

_Loneliness_, Aaleigha finally concluded one night staring up at her stiff bed posts. _We battle each other's loneliness. _

Hitsugaya Toshirou acted lonely though.

Hitsugaya Toshirou was so lucky. Why couldn't he see that? It made Aaleigha angry, but even more so sad. He had a lieutenant. Friends. People who would talk and laugh and joke with him...if only he were open to it.

Hitsugaya Toshirou.

She hated him...because he was so blind.

She loved his name, though. _Hitsugaya Toshirou. _Aaleigha repeated it in her head after peeking it on a data sheet one time; she knew it so well, she listened to it play her to sleep.

Her own name was so flat. _Aaleigha Waterwell. _The other Sternritters had punchy, fantastic names, like _Shaz Domino_, and _Bambietta Basterbine_.

Their names suited them well...their gaudy attitudes and manic, sadistic purges were expressed in their bouncy titles.

_Hitsugaya Toshirou._ Not a preening name, or bragging, or showy. It felt like her hand sliding across uneven ice.

_Hitsugaya Toshirou._

His Majesty had named her Aaleigha Waterwell Sternritter C, "The Cold."

His name was his own- his own and beautiful.

_Hitsugaya Toshirou._

Oh, how she hated him.

* * *

Aaleigha crouched down. She touched her finger to the tile. A single flower of frost bloomed. Then it spread, the pattern drawing itself faster up her arm in dizzying array, until a lacy pattern covered her entire body from her face under the veil to her toes frozen in Sternritter boots.

No one could see her; her entire body was covered in white fabric and a veil fluttered over her face.

If an Aaleigha fell in an empty hallway and no one was there to see it...

_Freeze me here_.

"Well, if it isn't the princess!" Bazz-B's loud voice announced. His boots stopped next to her gloved hand.

"Bazz-B," she greeted dryly, withdrawing her fingers. "What're you doing here?"

His face twisted into a mock-pout. "What? The princess doesn't want me here?"

"Not particularly. Though you're welcome to stay."

Bazz-B grinned, bright Mohawk like a Trojan helmet. Suddenly, he reached down and grabbed her arm. His palm burned, and it smoldered her sleeve, burning her skin with finger marks. "Don't I just melt you, princess? That why you don't want me here?"

Aaleigha could do nothing. She felt nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

_Hitsugaya Toshirou._

She sent icy frost running down her arm and over his hand. He abruptly let go, and Bazz stared at it for a second as his flames flickered out under a pattern of lace...then smirked.

"Cute."

"Aw, leave her alone, Bazz," Bambietta sighed, white cloak slung around her neck, revealing her tight outfit underneath. "We're synching up with Soul Society in an hour; this is going to be so fun!"

Bazz-B rolled his eyes. "I'll take out every sorry excuse for a captain with just my little finger."

"Captain Commander Genryuusai requires at least a whole appendage," commented Aaleigha bitterly. "Have some respect for your enemies."

"Ouch, AC," Bambietta raised an eyebrow. "Someone's being a real pain today."

"Yeah, princess," Bazz-B added with a curl of his lip.

Their reiatsus were uncomfortably pressuring. She hated this stifling feeling. It happened every day.

"Excuse my rudeness," Aaleigha quoted tonelessly.

Bambietta grinned. "You little bitch! You're secretly looking forward to stealing all the kills for yourself, aren't you?"

"I've got a mission," she shrugged, totally avoiding the question. "Captain of the Tenth. The Ice Boy."

Bazz groaned. "Aw, come on! I'd take out that squirt with one breath. Why'd Yhwach want _you _to go anyway? Princess Waterwell, Sternritter C,_ 'The Cold.' _Isn't that a bit too perfect a match?"

"His majesty has his reasons." Jugram's voice came from behind her.

Aaleigha automatically lowered her head...even though she was still kneeling on the ground and the her face was covered by the veil.

"Today, our prime objective is the collection of bankai," he continued. "Aaleigha's assignment may be the most well-suited to draw out his ice-type zanpakutou spirit...or perhaps to prevent someone like you to completely destroy the boy completely."

He reached down, and she wordlessly let him take her gloved fingers and lift her up gently. Touched her gentle like porcelain. Protected her like a vase Yhwach entrusted to him. Which, in a way, he did; her father seemed to enjoy watching her flinch every time he mentioned their marriage. Despite that, however, Hawschwald still treated her the best out of anyone in Wandenreich...but he was still so cold like the rest of them.

"Aw, Jugo," Bazz-B said lazily. "You're no fun."

"The young couple's a bitch," Bambietta sang, though still promenading away with Bazz-B, both probably laughing and drinking in the looming blood-shed.

Jugram touched her burnt sleeve, soot rubbing off his fingers.

"I hope he did not hurt you."

"No, Jugram," Aaleigha responded tonelessly.

"You're burned."

"I hope you're jesting."

She peered down at her arm held between his hands; Bazz-B's fingers had left angry red burns through her white sleeve. It didn't hurt though. Aaleigha liked feeling so numb...but it was harder to feel nothing nowadays.

"I'll treat you immediately," he stated, brow furrowed in concern.

Woops. His vase was cracked.

"I'm 'The Cold,' Jugram. The very existence of a burn reishi against my own..." She sent a flash of reishi-induced frost up her arm; Bazz-B's imprints immediately vanished under a gossamer pattern of frost. "...is preposterous."

He seemed relieved. Hawschwald raised a finger and lifted the edge of her veil, parting her face. She stared resolutely at her white boots. He stared at her eyes and brushed his lips against her own.

Nothing. Feel nothing.

_Hitsugaya Toshirou._

"Jugram..."

Hawschwald blinked at her, then immediately stepped away. Waterwell closed her eyes and bowed her head.

_Hitsugaya Toshirou._

Whenever she said his name, it made her feel again.

Too bad it was always sadness.

"I'm going back to my quarters," she told him, pulling down her veil again. "Stay...safe, Jugram."

"Yes. Stay safe, Aaleigha."

* * *

_If I was free, I sometimes wonder how I would be._

_Maybe I'd just be like how I am now; so tired and quiet all the time._

_Or maybe, I'd be loud and positive. I rather hope so. I hope my personality could be something that left people feeling good...the opposite of what I feel every day._

_I think that's where the kindest people come from; wishing for no one else to have to feel the pain that they did._

_I feel like this now._

_I can't remember feeling anything different._

_I'd like to be more positive. But there's no one to be kind to. The only one I could share this with is Jugram...my arranged husband. Another cog in His Majesty's great clock._

_And don't you dare feel sorry for me._

_Whoever you may be._

_Letters to you with no reply._

_Oh, what a cold, cold sound._


End file.
